Woman taking out trash bitten by copperhead snake

Tuesday

Jun 26, 2007 at 12:01 AMJun 26, 2007 at 6:30 PM

Cristi Rinehart got a rude reception from a local reptile while taking out the trash. Rinehart suffered a snake bite to her leg by a copperhead while walking down the gravel drive of her trailer park June 21.

Bastrop Daily Enterprise report

Cristi Rinehart got a rude reception from a local reptile while taking out the trash.

Rinehart suffered a snake bite to her leg by a copperhead while walking down the gravel drive of her trailer park June 21. Rinehart and the Morehouse Parish Sheriff's Office were a little surprised by the incident.

"I was kind of shocked because of where it was," Rinehart said.

Lt. Keith Robertson said, "This is the first (snake bite) I know this department has worked in 20 years."

The bite happened as Rinehart and her sons were taking out the trash. Rinehart lives on City Motors Road off of U.S. 425. Rinehart said she grew up in West Carroll Parish and has trounced through fields all her life and never thought twice about getting bit by a snake. So she certainly didn't expect to encounter one in the middle of a gravel drive.

"We were walking along talking and something hit me," Rinehart said.

And when it hit, it hurt.

"It felt like somebody took an ice pick and rammed it from one side of my ankle to the other," Rinehart said.

The sheriff's office became involved because the EMTs called them in to deal with the snake. Robertson said it is standard procedure for the sheriff's office to be called in these cases -- though it's extremely rare -- because doctors need to know what species of snake bit the victim in order to administer the proper anti-venom and antibiotics.

"They always want us to shoot the snake so they know what they're dealing with," Robertson said.

Deputy Scott Culp obliged doctors by dispatching the offending snake with a shot to the head. The copperhead's headless corpse then went with Rinehart to the emergency room -- first at Morehouse General Hospital and then to St. Francis North Hospital in Monroe. Rinehart said it was strange to have the dead snake following her around everywhere she went. But headless snakes were the least of her worries. Neither MGH or St. Francis had any anti-venom to give her.

"That kind of unnerved me," Rinehart said.

Doctors determined the wound wasn't serious enough to be any real danger and gave Rinehart some strong antibiotics to fend off infection. Rinehart said they told her to monitor the bite closely, and if she had any issues, they could send for some anti-venom.

The day after the incident, Rinehart's lower leg and foot were badly swollen, but she said she's starting to get around a little. She said she's even able to laugh a little about it now.